Snapshots
by rosenzakura
Summary: Based on LJ 1sentence, theme set Epsilon. Slash! Some canon-verse, some AU, some based on what I think would happen after canon  disregarding NPoT


**A/N: **I was bored and started using LJ, that's my only excuse! So I decided to relax and do a little writing, _Snippets_ style! Oh, plus I watched _Turn Back the Pendulum_ arc for Bleach as well. Anyhow, I'm so out of touch with writing this pairing as slash that I _think_ I may have went off, characterization-wise. So erm, don't kill me but lemme know where I went wrong?

That means _review_! Thankkkks(: -iirse

**Warnings: **Slash (unlike my usual het-due-to-femm), some violence and allusions.

**Disclaimer: **Prompts from LJ Community 1sentence, theme set Epsilon. Original names, characters and places don't belong to me. I don't own anything except the general ridiculous plot-less plot and OC(s), if any. Yadablah.

* * *

**_Snapshots_**

_ONE._ Motion  
Concealed well behind that ever-present smirk was the perpetual appreciation for the fluid lines of the other in play – be it across the net or beside him in the occasional whimsical doubles that they were terrible at.

_TWO._ Cool  
As they grew older, Seiichi's ritual apology of a can of chilled Ponta never changed and never failed to placate and pissed Ryoma after a particularly intense match.

_THREE. _Young  
When originally thrown in the professional circuit, Ryoma decided he would rather be acting his real age of sixteen than delaying it to torment any children he might have like his father had done – but meeting Seiichi again defenestrated the plan: he would rather be his bratty self, always.

_FOUR._ Last  
Eventually, their most challenging bet was whose match could last the longest because they were decimating opponents way too quickly.

_FIVE._ Wrong  
It was one little misjudgment of the angle of the ball that Seiichi's new move delivered him, but it cost him the game and the two weeks of freedom he'd bet on it.

_SIX._ Gentle  
"I love how you only drop that perpetual smile for me," were the unsaid words behind the rich emotion in Ryoma's eyes, behind that cocky smirk.

_SEVEN._ One  
Neither were particularly demonstrative in public; in private was another story that Seiichi's little sister found out when she walked in on them, running out wailing that her 'nii-san had been absorbed by another in some odd metamorphosis that made him a conjoined twin.

_EIGHT._ Thousand  
No matter how many times they played against one another, it never felt old; the thrill never seemed to fade.

_NINE._ King  
As they watched Atobe call out his catchphrase at his first match of the season, their eyes met across the court; Ryoma's lip twitched a laugh in his smirk while Seiichi's smile was accompanied by an arched eyebrow – they truly were rubbing off one another.

_TEN._ Learn  
"You taught me how to have _fun_ again," Seiichi whispered once, when he thought Ryoma wasn't listening, "And that was the best gift you could ever give me."

_ELEVEN._ Blur  
When it came down to drawing the lines as rivals, they found that the other half of their relationship made that… Difficult.

_TWELVE. _Wait  
"I'll still be here when you wake up," Ryoma promised, as Seiichi slipped into a morphine-induced sleep once more.

_THRITEEN._ Change  
They didn't realized how much they'd influenced each other until Niou told Seiichi one day that he and Yagyuu were pretty sure that if they wanted to, he and Ryoma could pull of the Platinum Pair's favorite psychological attack of "the Switch."

_FOURTEEN._ Command  
Seiichi learnt long before they started dating that Ryoma took no orders from anyone – the issue was moot anyway, he wouldn't have fallen for a perpetually compliant Ryoma.

_FIFTEEN. _Hold  
It was all Ryoma could do but hold and be held when he and Seiichi met at the airport, "Goddamn it, Seii, I thought I planned your death by getting you to fly in once I heard of the plane trouble."

_SIXTEEN._ Need  
"I need you the way I need tennis: I'd die without it, without you."

_SEVENTEEN._ Vision  
He'd deny it till the day he died, but he was _terrified_ when Seiichi had taken away his senses, back then during that first Nationals match.

_EIGHTEEN._ Attention  
If they commanded attention by just stepping on the courts alone before, just walking together now arrested the eye of the crowds.

_NINETEEN._ Soul  
"You're the other half of me; like it or not, even if I die, I'll spend my afterlife hunting you down."

_TWENTY._ Picture  
For all his narcissism, Ryoma had to be cajoled by Seiichi to just enter a photo booth.

_TWENTY-ONE_. Fool  
_Stupid, stupid, stupid, _Seiichi silently scolded himself for letting Ryoma out of his sight: Kami-sama knew how directionally challenged the younger was.

_TWENTY-TWO_. Mad  
Rikkai's tennis team gaped at Ryoma as he stepped into the eye of the maelstrom, taking over from Sanada who was being annihilated by his furious boyfriend.

_TWENTY-THREE_. Child  
It was lucky that _one _of them had the patience to deal with little children, Ryoma reflected, as Seiichi made the appropriate comments regarding Nanako's baby daughter.

_TWENTY-FOUR_. Now  
Seiichi never forgot those words and that glare that Ryoma shot him during that perilous first moment, "I swear if you don't move and stop treating me like a fragile piece of glass, which I most certainly am not, Seii, you're going to be suffering the next time it's my turn and I show you just how I like it."

_TWENTY-FIVE_. Shadow  
"I don't intend to walk in your shadow," Seiichi informed Ryoma, when they started dating; it was fine with him – he wasn't Atobe, he wanted a companion not a slave.

_TWENTY-SIX_. Goodbye  
It's 'see you later,' Ryoma had to remind himself, as he boarded the plane to play the French Open while Seiichi remained behind in Japan.

_TWENTY-SEVEN_. Hide  
Ryoga took one look at his Chibisuke's new boyfriend and promptly treated him to the "hurt him and I'll have your hide" talk that was the trademark of any aniki or aniue – too bad Seiichi had been giving those to his little sister's boyfriends for too long for it to have any effect.

_TWENTY-EIGHT_. Fortune  
Seiichi would always grouse that Ryoma won on luck because only that could explain his opening of the third door in the middle of a match that he was losing.

_TWENTY-NINE_. Safe  
Safe and secure was with Seiichi, away from all the paparazzi buzzing around him all the time.

_THRITY_. Ghost  
Ryoma uncovering his form of tennis was the most terrifying experience for Seiichi: it brought out the image of his opponent's greatest fear – and Seiichi's was seeing Ryoma die at his hands.

_THRITY-ONE_. Book  
The first time Seiichi flung Yanagi's data book at Ryoma's head in a temper was also the last: he rarely read and he couldn't really risk his team in a fit of temper at his boyfriend, could he?

_THRITY-TWO_. Eye  
If Seiichi wanted to know exactly what Ryoma was thinking, he knew exactly where to look behind the mask of a smirk to find his emotions.

_THRITY-THREE_. Never  
So much for avoiding cheesy-mushy stuff like love forever, Ryoma thought, as he curled into his boyfriend's embrace like a cat for an afternoon nap.

_THRITY-FOUR_. Sing  
Ryoma would never tell Seiichi this, but he personally found Seiichi's singing (off-key) in the shower cute.

_THRITY-FIVE_. Sudden  
Seiichi's suggestion that they date came out of the blue, but in retrospect, Ryoma thinks that he should have seen it coming.

_THRITY-SIX_. Stop  
In that moment, he simply wanted to freeze time so as to enjoy the warmth of the moment between them.

_THRITY-SEVEN_. Time  
Apparently Seiichi hadn't rubbed off him enough because there was still the repeated refrain in their shared dorm room of "wake _up_, Ryo; we're going to be late for class!"

_THRITY-EIGHT_. Wash  
"No, you _know_ that it's an urban myth that showering together would save water and money!"

_THRITY-NINE_. Torn  
He couldn't repress the heartache at seeing his White's Day letter on the ground, until he met Ryoma's sheepish look as the latter confessed to mistaking it for a fanboy's ever persistent letters.

_FORTY._ History  
They left their mark on the middle school circuit in that match three years ago, and by Kami, they were going to do it again on the high school circuit now, today.

_FORTY-ONE_. Power  
Ryoma could help but laugh at the stunned sheep that was Ginka High as Seiichi decapitated their captain at ten percent of his actual strength.

_FORTY-TWO_. Bother  
_"All you're good for is disrupting the status quo!_"With those harsh words from people he named friends in his mind; Ryoma could only run, praying Seiichi won't feel the same as those 'friends.'

_FORTY-THREE_. God  
"So what do you think would be my nickname now that I've defeated you?" Ryoma wondered aloud, to Seiichi's irritation, "It'd be blasphemy to put me above you and incestuous, at that…"

_FORTY-FOUR_. Wall  
He was pretty amused at Ryoma's take to Jackal's nickname, "Hey, since you're the ultimate defense, do you mind standing guard while I steal Seii for a while? – Sanada was on our heels the last time: it's hardly enough time to do anything!"

_FORTY-FIVE_. Naked  
Laid bare, without smirk or smile to protect them – that was the best gift either could have ever asked for.

_FORTY-SIX_. Drive  
"That was the most dangerous, thrilling trip between school and home," Seiichi half-heartedly glared at Ryoma's smug expression.

_FORTY-SEVEN_. Harm  
Upon the sight of _his_ injured Ryo on the ground as a result of Akaya's reckless, uncivilized play, Seiichi felt his blood run cold, and then hot – he promised himself to decimate his successor once _his_ Ryo had been seen to.

_FORTY-EIGHT_. Precious  
"Like it or not, I'm never letting you go," Seiichi promised silently, watching the sunrise play on Ryoma's features.

_FORTY-NINE_. Hunger  
"Seii~-nii," Ryoma managed a half-hearted glare at his nephew, fervently hoping that Seiichi won't turn on him, "I want food and Ryo-nii won't give it to me! ~"*

_FIFTY_. Believe  
If there was something he wanted to believe more than anything was the ideal of lasting forever and always.

_. finis ._


End file.
